Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
The cardiac monitor continues to beep as a young girl is resting in a makeshift hospital bed. The room she's in is a metal one below the deck of a large battleship. The girl slowly opens her eyes. She has short sandy blonde hair littered with ash, fair skin covered in cuts and scrapes, and tired blue eyes. Several bandages cling onto her as an IV is connected to her left arm. Her white t-shirt and green military pants are littered with blood stains and holes.
"Oh looks like you're up," Someone remarked.
The girl looks over to see the other person in the room. He's around her age and is a man with short messy black hair, white skin covered in bruises, green wary eyes, and broken glasses that are held together with tape. He's also wearing a green military uniform that's in a similar state to hers.
"Care for some coffee?" The boy questions.
The girl is quiet as she looks down at her hands. Blood-soaked bandages have fallen down onto them.
"Where are the others, Arsenii?" The girl demands as she clenches the bandages with her fist.
Arsenii is silent for a moment.
The girl stares at Arsenii, waiting for any response.
"I made a choice back there and I don't regret it," Arsenii utters, "There was a path forward and I took it. Besides, you know that it's bad luck to return home to get something you left behind. So don't hate me too much, okay Ana?"
The young Anastasia Petrova, in a fit of rage, stands up and rushes to the door. The IV rips out of her but she doesn't care. Her hands slam onto the ship's door. She opens the metal door and exits out onto the deck only to see…
The red arctic sky raining down a mixture of snow and ash. The cold bitter air has a metallic taste to it. The rough arctic waves are devouring the remains of several other military battleships and deceased soldiers.
Arsenii joins her as the two look out onto the wreckage and the ruined iceberg all drifting in the sea like leaves.
Arsenii then puffs, his breath visible against the twisted arctic sky.
"You can say that we really gave it our all, that we had a plan and strategy to survive," Arsenii remarks, "But we both know that isn't true."
Arsenii turns to face Anastasia and finishes, "The only reason we're still alive Ana, is because we just lucked out."
PROJECT MONSTER
Back in the present during a hot summer day, Anastasia glares at the doctor in front of her. His short hair has become long and filled with gray patches, he finally got a better pair of glasses, he has a beard now and a title as 'doctor'. Though to Anastasia, when she looks into his tired green eyes, she still sees the same man from back then.
The doctor, who was chatting with his daughter Katina the moment prior, turns his attention to the rest of the group.
"Hi there I know some of you may know me – but for those that don't – the name's Arsenii Rotten," The doctor states, "You can also just call me Katina's Dad. I'll be the one to take you on your tour."
Razor goes to introduce himself but Anastasia cuts him off.
"Wasn't the tour supposed to be done by Head Researcher Vanderbilt?" Anastasia asks.
"Ah Petrova, long time no see," Arsenii says while he adjusts his scarf, "As for Edward, the man's once again going on an expedition to The Great Monster Ruins with a young protege. So you're stuck with me, unfortunately."
"Let's just get inside," Anastasia remarks.
"Sure but you may want to bundle up," Arsenii Rotten remarks with a coy smirk.
With the brief introduction concluded, Arsenii turns and begins to walk into the facility.
"Guess we're just chop liver to him," Tire mumbles under his breath.
"Tell me about it," Dmitri mumbles.
Following the middle-aged doctor inside the research facility, the first thing that the group is greeted with is the freezing temperatures the whole facility has.
"Sorry about the cold," Arsenii explains while the others try to recover from the weather whiplash, "The facility has to be this chilly so we can do our research. We have some spare coats if you need them."
Katina, Dmitri, & Tire all put on the white puffer jackets while Anastasia & Razor don't since they aren't bothered by the cold.
"Now then you may know that your job is to kill or subdue the monsters," Arsenii remarks as he walks towards a motion sensor door, "But once you do your job, the cleaning crew takes the mess you made, and brings it to us."
The doors activate, pulling back to reveal a long hallway filled with glass cells on each end containing monster corpses. The letter "M" is on the wall. The buzzing of the fluorescent lights and muffled discussions from researchers analyzing the monsters' remains echo throughout the hall."
"Welcome to the first stop on our journey; the morgue," Arsenii announces.
"How inviting," Dmitri jokes as the group follows Arsenii into the hallway.
"Here at our research facility, we're constantly making new and exciting discoveries regarding monsters each day," Arsenii explains, "While we still don't know their true origin, we do know how to defeat them."
Arsenii stops at one cell which contains a beating spherical organ with small veins and muscles connected to it. As Razor looks at it, he can't help but think it looks like a discolored cherry.
"This is the core of a monster and its main organ," Arsenii remarks while pointing at it, "This thing functions as both the creatures' lungs, brain, and heart. No matter how damaged a monster gets, it'll still continue to keep on living unless its core is significantly damaged."
Arsenii keeps on walking down the hallway towards another motion sensor door, as they do, Razor spots the remains of the duplication monster in one of the chambers.
"That thing's still around?" Razor questions.
"Yes, this is where a monster first goes when brought here," Arsenii explains, "Ignoring the core, a monster's genetic makeup is often so messy and damaged even before its death that it takes a while to properly analyze them. Once a standard analysis is complete though, they're either discarded or taken into one of the other four sections."
"Four sections?"
"Yes, one for each class of monster," Arsenii lectures.
The motion sensor doors activate and the group enters the next hallway. It's very similar to the last one only that instead of an 'M', there's the letter 'D' written on the wall. Furthermore, the monsters in containment are mostly alive.
Katina stops at one of the cells to see that Flim is residing in it. Both of their eyes light up as they see one another and Flim runs around in circles in the cell. Katina laughs before she takes out her phone to record it.
"Can we take this one with us?" Katina questions.
"Sorry Pumpkin but we don't have any gift shops here," Arsenii smiles, "Though you're all more than welcome to stop by if you give a proper notice."
Dmitri stops at another cell which labels the monster inside 'Cub-Eye'. The monster is raccoon-like with two tails and feral eyes. When they spot Dmitri, the monster hisses at him before trying to claw at the glass cell.
"Fuck you too dude," Dmitri says as he flips off the monster.
Cub-Eye stops scratching at the wall before pouting in the corner.
"Aye c'mon dude it was just a joke," Dmitri apologizes.
Razor has his hands pressed against the glass cell as he stares at the monster labeled 'Kodak'. It's a fuzzy orange monster with four legs, a large toothy mouth, and one giant eyeball. Kodak's eye stares at Razor. Razor stares back at Kodak. Kodak stares deeper at Razor. Razor stares back at it. Kodak stares deeper at Razor. Razor stares back at-
Wait nevermind, Razor blinked.
"Uh, does that thing never close his eyes?" Razor asks as he rubs his eyes.
"Kodak? No, he doesn't have eyelids," Arsenii remarks, "Though if you couldn't tell this is where we hold all of the monsters who are in the D-Class category."
Razor pays attention as he recalls how the whole reason they showed up here was so he could actually learn about the four categories of monsters.
"These ones are all extremely docile after their first murder, so much so that they often don't harm anybody else unless provoked or due to an accident. They're easy to cooperate with which also means that most of them are alive when they get here," Arsenii explains, "Though out of the four classes, D-Class monsters have the smallest and most fragile cores."
With the explanation finished, the group moves on to the next room which has a 'C' on it. Most of the monsters here are all dead, but there are a few who are shackled to the wall with chains and other physical restraints. Each of the monsters here come in different shapes and sizes.
"These are C-Class monsters," Arsenii points out, "Mentally speaking they're the least developed out of the four classes, yet they're also the most aggressive. When encountering other monsters they'll often attack them until one of them is dead. While their cores are less fragile than D-Classers, it's not by much."
Continuing on, the group moves to the next room which is a similar hallway as the last with the letter 'B' on it. Strange enough, a good chunk of the monsters here are alive.
"These are B-Class monsters," Arsenii begins to explain, "They have the biggest cores out of all of the four categories. They're more intelligent than C-Class and as such they're much easier to tame. As long as you can keep them well fed, they often don't cause too much of a hassle."
As Arsenii says that, Razor wonders just how accurate that statement is while looking at a particular cell. In it is the corpse of Elephy, the monster he helped put down in the sewers of Rising Heights. However, in the cell, he also sees a familiar sight as Doctor Sebastian Turner is in there experimenting on the monster's carcass.
Turner locks eyes with Razor and after a bit of an awkward stare-down, the tension is broken by Arsenii stating, "You know, in our research we also find ways on how to improve our own lives. Like that Elephy one you're looking at helped us improve the circulation in vacuums."
"I see… how creative," Razor suggests trying to hide his discomfort.
"Don't worry we're on the last section of the tour," Arsenii states as he makes his way forward.
The final room they enter is another hallway containing the letter 'A' on it. While most of the cells are empty, the monsters that are all in this room are all deceased. One of the monsters has a white cloth over its body.
"These are A-Class monsters, and out of the four categories they are the most deadly. They not only have extremely durable cores but also intelligence almost on par with gorillas," Arsenii explains, "If you ever come across one out in the wild don't think of anything else but taking it out."
After the somber conclusion to the tour, Arsenii holds up his key card to a door, opening it to reveal the entrance to a cafeteria, "Sorry for the long explanation, if you want you can ask some questions over lunch."
_______________________________
Inside the giant cafeteria, several researchers are all chatting amongst themselves. Arsenii is at another table talking to a few other researchers while Anastasia & Tire sit at another table. Razor, who's trying to find a spot to sit, ends up seeing Katina & Dmitri waving him over to their table.
"Feels like we're back in school with all this," Razor remarks as he sits down at the table.
"Tell me about it," Dmitri says as he eats the cafeteria's beef stroganoff.
Katina, who just took a sip of water, asks the group, "So, you guys like the place?"
"Yeah though it's cold as hell," Dmitri shivers.
"Your dad seems nice," Razor compliments, "Although, I don't get why he and Anastasia…"
"They seemed fine to me," Katina insists.
Dmitri smirks, "Maybe to you, though the two really despise one another."
"How come?" Razor asks in between bites.
"No way that's bull!" Katina insists.
"Oh trust me, if you weren't like a toddler back then, you'd know how heated those two used to get," Dmitri remarks.
"You're not that older than me y'know," Katina scoffs.
Curious about the drama, Razor leans forward and asks, "Do you know why?"
"No clue," Dmitri states bluntly, "All I know is that they used to be very close, then the Antarctic War happened and now they hate one another."
"They're veterans of the Antarctic War?!" Razor & Katina both ask startled.
"Razor I can accept not knowing, but how did you not know this Katina?" Dmitri questions.
"I don't know, guess he just kept that hidden from me," Katina remarks.
"It makes sense though," Dmitri explains, "Nobody wants to go around letting people know they were a part of a tragedy."
As those words land, Razor can't help but think back to how little he's been told about The Antarctic War. In school the teachers always brushed past it, when watching TV broadcasts about it they were always vague, and even in memorial services for the war nobody went into detail as to what happened then.
Clearly something bad, but to turn two people who were friends into bitter enemies? He had trouble thinking of it. Though the more he thought about how Anastasia & Arsenii grew to hate one another, a new question popped into his mind…
Is there anything that could help mend their broken friendship?
____________________
Back in the hallway for A-Class monsters, two researchers begin a routine examination of one of the monsters. The cell name for the monster refers to it as 'Cable' and a white sheet covers most of its limp body.
As the researchers continue their examination, they assume the monster has been long since put down. And why wouldn't they? Every other monster in this area of the facility has been put down.
And they'd be correct to assume that the monster had long since perished… if it wasn't for the carcass's hand slightly twitching.
See You Next Chapter!~